Despite their own domestic season being in its fledgling stages, Red Star showed no signs of rustiness early on. In turn, a nervy-looking Celta conceded what looked like a farcical opener just eight minutes in, when a ball over the top saw Aleksandar Katai battle Javi Rodriguez on the left flank, leaving him on the floor leading him to find an onrushing Marko Arnautovic.
The Austrian fired into the vacant net to send the home fans into raptures, but a VAR review disallowed the goal, with Katai deemed to have fouled Rodriguez in the build-up.
Nine minutes later, Katai crossed from the left for Arnautovic to run forward and exquisitely convert, touching with his right foot and lofting the ball left-footed into the net with his next touch. It was a moment of genuine class - but moments later, it was erased from the history books, with a VAR review revealing that he was offside by a mere shoulder.
Beyond that, the game’s only real chance of the remaining first-half minutes came just before the half-hour mark, when Iago Aspas hit the post and Ilaix Moriba forced a wonderful save from Matheus on the rebound.
The 0-0 HT scoreline was of no use to either side’s aspirations for a top-eight finish, and it always looked like it would be a case of who blinked first - more especially with Red Star coming into the game after four straight 1-0 victories on the European scene.
The second half duly began in cagey fashion, though Rade Krunic was lucky not to see a second yellow card when bringing down former UEL winner Marcos Alonso. In fact, it took until the hour mark for the next real chance to arrive, as Sergio Carreira put sufficient pressure on Nikola Stankovic, forcing him to head wide on the end of a speculative cross.
With just 30 minutes of the UEL league phase remaining, the door was still open for either side to break into the top eight. A dull game erupted in the dying minutes though, with an exquisite outside-of-the-boot finish from the edge of the box from Fer Lopez seeing Celta snatch what looked to be a winner.
But Red Star equalized straight from the kick-off, when Timi Elsnik fed Bruno Duarte inside the box, and he lobbed into the net to level up.
Neither side could truly comprehend what was happening, but events elsewhere saw Celta join Red Star in the seeded knockout playoff round qualification zone. That’s where they both ended up, side by side in the final standings, but they’ll both have easier-looking potential opposition in next month’s playoffs.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Javi Rueda (Celta Vigo)
